Pin chains and guides for stenters or the like



Oct. 4, 1955 K. s. LAURIE PIN CHAINS AND GUIDES FOR STENTERS OR THE LIKE 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 7, 1951 Inventor; fi/r/rm/ San/m V/ZZz [MA /z AtlorneyS Oct. 4, 1955 K. s. LAURIE PIN CHAINS AND GUIDES FOR STENTERS OR THE LIKE 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 7, 1951 Attorneys Oct. 4, 1955 K. s. LAURIE 2,719,349

PIN CHAINS AND GUIDES FOR STENTERS OR THE LIKE Filed Nov. 7, 1951 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 fin.

F/GS.

Aiflomeys Oct. 4, 1955 K. s. LAURIE PIN CHAINS AND GUIDES FOR STENTERS OR THE LIKE Filed Nov. 7, 1951 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Inventor.- fl /r/Vm/ Jammy/1M! mm Attorneys Oct. 4, 1955 K. s. LAURIE 2,719,349

PIN CHAINS AND GUIDES FOR STEINTERS OR THE LIKE Filed Nov. 7, 1951 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Oct. 4, 1955 K. s. LAURIE 2,719,349

PIN CHAINS AND GUIDES FOR STENTERS OR THE] LIKE A ttorneys.

PIN CHAINS AND GUIDES FOR STENTERS OR THE LIKE Kenneth S. Laurie, Thomliebank, Glasgow, Scotland, as-

signor to John Dalglish & Sons Limited, Thornliebank, Glasgow, Scotland, a British company Application November 7, 1951, Serial No. 255,234

Claims priority, application Great Britain November 8, 1950 12 Claims. (Cl. 2660) This invention relates to pin carrying conveyor chains and guide means or rails therefor for use in stenters or like machines, for example for drying fabric or the like.

In the drying of fabrics or other webs on stenters by means of hot air streams projected against the web on one or preferably both sides, the rate of drying is increased with increase in the velocity of the air actually striking the fabric. For this reason it is a great advantage to arrange the air nozzles, or air discharge slots, so that their point of discharge is as close to the surface of the fabric as possible, preferably on both sides, in order to minimise velocity loss between nozzle or slot and fabric.

In drying fabrics on ordinary existing stenters it is not usually possible to position a nozzle or slot of simple construction nearer to the cloth than two and a half inches to three inches, since space must be allowed for the passage of the stenter chains and of their necessary guide rails for varying the lateral spacing between the chains to suit various widths of fabric. On one or two occasions use has been proposed of complicated forms of adjustable nozzles, such as telescopic nozzles and swivelling nozzles, to overcome this difiiculty.

An object of the present invention is to enable the advantage of closeness of the nozzles to the fabric to be obtained with a comparatively normal nozzle (and stenter) arrangement.

In accordance with the present invention, fabric guiding means in or for a stenter or like machine comprises, in combination, upper and lower spaced guides of shallow plate lamina or like formation, and a stenter pin-mounting element adapted to slide longitudinally between said guides and also of shallow plate lamina or like formation where contacting said guides, whereby a small overall height of the guiding means is obtained.

Preferably, nozzles or outlets for drying air or gas are provided above and/or below said elements, the orifices of said nozzles or outlets being located close to the upper and/or lower, as the case may be, faces of said guides. The guides are preferably adjustable transversely relative to the nozzles or outlets, the upper and/ or lower faces of the guides opposite the nozzles or outlets being substantially flat.

Also, in accordance with the present invention, a stenter or like machine comprises upper and lower, elongated, endless spaced guides of shallow plate, lamina, or like formation extending longitudinally along each side of the machine, two pin chains each including a plurality of pivotally interlined pin-mounting elements of shallow plate, lamina, or like formation and each adapted to slide between the guides at one or other side of the machine, guide-supporting means comprising a plurality of spaced, transversely-extending elements immediately above and below each guide and to which the guides are secured, and a plurality of transversely-extending nozzles above and below the machine with their orifices at a level close to the level of the upper and/or lower faces of the guides, as the case may be, and positioned in alignment with the inter-element spaces, whereby the nozzles on both sides States atent til of the fabric can be positioned close to the fabric without interfering with the usual transverse adjustment of the guides.

Preferably, said pin chains each comprise a plurality of horizontally-disposed, pivotally-interlinked, thin, rigid flat plates each provided with a guide enlargement at or adjacent one lateral edge thereof and with a pin carrier at or adjacent the other lateral edge thereof.

Preferably, also said guides are formed of an anti-friction bearing material, for example a plastic laminated substance with a woven asbestos base.

In accordance also with the present invention a stenter pin mounting element in or for a stenter or like machine is of shallow plate or lamina formation provided at or adjacent one of its lateral edges with a plurality of stenter pins.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a stenter pin-mounting element with a linking plate secured thereto;

Fig. 2 is a section on the line II-II of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line IIIIII of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of part of a guide rail assembly;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line VV of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of part of the guide rail assembly with stenter pin-mounting elements articulated together by their linking plates and in position therein;

Fig. 7 is an elevation in the direction of arrow VII of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a section on the line VIIIVIII of Fig. 6;

Fig. 9 is a transverse vertical section through a stenter guide rail showing a stenter pin-mounting element and upper and lower nozzles in position; and

Fig. 10 is a section on the line X-X of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a diagrammatic transverse cross-sectional view of a stenter showing two endless conveyor chain units embodying the invention laterally adjustably mounted at opposite sides of the machine.

Referring to the drawings, the conveyor chain comprises a series of links which consist of stenter pin-mounting elements or main plates 10 each carrying a pin plate 11 provided with two relatively staggered series of pins P at one lateral edge 12 and linked together at the other lateral edge 13 by upper and lower linking elements or plates 14 and 15. The main plates 10 are of lamina formation and are three thirty-seconds of an inch thick or high, and the linking plates are three sixteenths of an inch thick. Each main plate 10 is offset at 16 adjacent the part 12 where it carries the pin plate 11.

The main plates 10 and linking plates 14 and 15 are secured together by two countersunk screws 17 and 18 passing through the upper and lower linking plates with the main plate disposed between same. The linking plates project longitudinally from the main plate and are each provided with a pivot hole 19 while the opposite end of each main plate (the near end of the adjacent main plate) is provided with a similar hole 20 in which a cylindrical steel stud 21 is fixed, this stud fitting as a pivot in the aforesaid pivot holes 19. The overall height of the stud is fifteen thirtyseconds of an inch which corresponds in total height to the combined thickness of the main and linking plates.

This construction provides a stenter chain whose parts have sufficient bearing surface to withstand the pull of the fabric and the weight of the chain, and yet has an overall thickness or height of less than five-eighths of an inch.

The guide rail assembly construction provides for to and fro stretches of the chain and comprises a longitudinally extending central steel bar 22 five-eighths of an inch thick by two inches wide, having bolted thereto at longitudinally spaced intervals by bolts 32 and nuts 33 transversely extending cross bars 23 and 24 disposed above and below the central bar. The outer end of each cross bar is provided at the mutually opposing horizontal faces with longitudinally extending anti-friction guides or hearing strips 25 of say a plastic laminated substance with a woven asbestos base connected to the cross bars by countersunk screws 26 and 27. The bearing strips or guides 25 are of shallow plate or lamina formation.

The thickness of the cross bars 23 and 24 is one quarter inch and their width (longitudinally of the stenter) is one inch. Thus the overall height of the guide rail construction is one and one eighth inch.

The linking plates 14 of the chain ride along the space 28 between the upper and lower cross bars 23 and 24 and the longitudinally extending central bar 22 and bearing strips 25, the bearing strips leaving a clearance 29 between them of about one eighth of an inch to allow for passage of the main plates 10 with their projecting pin plates 11.

The cross bars 23 and 24 thus leave spaces 30 between them which allow transversely disposed nozzles 31 (Fig. 7), slotted members or the like to extend close to the fabric between the cross bars without interfering with the usual transverse adjustment of the guide rail assembly to suit the fabric width, and thus to have a vertical distance from nozzle to nozzle (on both sides of the fabric) of, for example, not more than three quarters of an inch. The fabric would run centrally between these nozzles which would thus be three-eighths of an inch from each fabric surface. It has been found by experiment that this distance is suitable for producing air or gas jets of a high velocity at the surface of the cloth, and thus for producing high rates of water evaporation, with a number of comparatively small jets and a considerable economy in fan horse power.

The plates 10 may be formed in various ways, for example by die casting, provided they are of shallow depth or lamina formation at least at the parts thereof which are adapted to slide between the guides 25 as required by the invention.

Referring now to Figs. 9 and 10 of the drawings, the stenter guide rail 38 is a metal casting substantially of H-formation in transverse vertical section with one of the uprights of the H extended upwardly beyond the upper level of the other upright and provided with a transversely-extending flange 43 projecting therefrom in the direction of the other upright to a position whereat it is directly above the top of the latter and provides the upper boundary of a relatively shallow, longitudinally-extending space 47 adapted to receive and guide the neck portions 44 of the stenter pin mounting elements 35. The body of the stenter pin mounting element is housed and guided in the longitudinally-extending space 45 bounded by the upright of the H, the cross bar 46 of the H and the flange 43. The part of the stenter pin mounting element 35 which projects from the rail 33 through the space 47 is initially stepped downwardly and thereafter extends outwardly to provide a horizontal ledge portion 48 on which is mounted a stenter pin plate 36 carrying two relatively staggered series of pins 37.

The rail is provided with a return portion and a continuous chain of stenter pin mounting elements is provided in known manner.

A plurality of spaced, transversely-extending channels 39 are provided in the upper surface of the flange 43, and a plurality of spaced, transversely-extending, upwardly-directed grooves 40, which are directly opposed to the channels 39, are provided in the bottom of the guide, the grooves 40 cutting through the lower portions of both uprights of the H and also through the cross bar 46. Nozzles 41 which extend transversely across the stenter for the full width thereof project downwardly into the channels 39 from above and upwardly into the grooves 40 from below. The channels and grooves thus allow the orifices of the nozzles 41 to approach close 0 the cloth line 50 while not interfering with the usual transverse adjustment of the guide rails 38 to vary the spacing therebetween in accordance with the width of the fabric to be treated. Transversely-extending beams 42 positioned at intervals between pairs of lower nozzles 41 are provided to support both stenter guide rails of the machine.

The construction shown in Figs. 9 and 10 thus allow location of the nozzle orifices substantially closer to the fabric surfaces than is the case with constructions of the type heretofore available.

Referring to Fig. 11, there is shown a diagrammatic transverse sectional view of a stenter provided with a pair of endless conveyor chains and chain guides each constructed as described above and mounted at opposite sides of the machine. The free ends of the nozzles 31 extend transversely across the full width of the machine adjacent to the fabric F and the upper and lower groups of nozzles are connected to upper and lower air ducts. The lateral selvedge edges of the fabric F are shown secured to the pins P of the inner portions of both chains. The longitudinally extending bars 22 of the chain guides at each side of the machine are mounted on supporting members which comprise a series of pairs of interiorly oppositely threaded sleeves 52 mounted on a series of revoluble threaded supporting and adjusting rods 51 of which only a single rod 51 and a pair of sleeves 52 are visible in Fig. 11. Usually at least three such rods are provided and connected for rotation by a common operating shaft (not shown). The end portions of each rod 51 which cooperate with the threaded sleeves 52 are similarly threaded in opposite directions so that the conveyor hains will be brought closer together or moved farther apart simultaneously, depending upon the direction of rotation of the several supporting rods 51 by their common operating shaft. This permits the lateral spacing between the conveyor chains at opposite sides of the stenter to be adjusted at will to handle webs of fabric F of different widths. The inner portions of each chain move longitudinally of the stenter in one direction and the outer portions of each chain move in the opposite direction in an empty or inoperative condition.

I claim:

1. A device of the class described, comprising: upper and lower, elongated, endless spaced guides of antifriction bearing material and of lamina formation, a pin chain mounted for sliding movement between the upper and lower guides and comprising a plurality of horizontally-disposed, pivotally interlinked, thin, rigid, fiat plates passing between the upper and lower guides, a guide enlargement mounted adjacent the lateral edge of each plate disposed inwardly of the guides, a pin carrier mounted adjacent the lateral edge of each plate disposed outwardly of the guides, a plurality of spaced parallel, transversely-extending support members disposed both immediately above the upper guides and immediately below the lower guides and on which the guides are mounted, and a plurality of transversely-extending nozzles having discharge orifices, said nozzles being disposed adjacent to said pin carriers with said orifices spaced apart for passage of said pin carriers therebetween, said orifices coinciding with and entering into the spaces between the support members and closely approaching the upper surfaces of the upper guides and the lower surfaces of the lower guides, thus reducing to a minimum the space separating opposed upper and lower nozzle orifices without interfering with transverse adjustment of the guides.

2. In combination with conveyor means wherein a web of material is conveyed longitudinally by engagement of at least one of its edge'portions by web holding means carried by a longitudinally-moving conveyor chain, the provision of a series of links each pivotally connected to at least one link adjacent thereto to form said chain, each link comprising a main body portion containing the pivotal axis, a neck portion extending laterally from the main body portion and of lesser thickness than the latter, with said web holding means at the of the neck portion remote from the body portion, and guide means for said chain comprising an elongated rail recessed to define a longitudinally-extending guideway of substantially complementary cross-sectional shape to and slidingly receiv ing the combined main body and neck portions of the chain links, the dimensions of the guideway being such that the major portion of each neck portion is contained between guideway wall surfaces adjacent thereto and on opposite sides thereof.

3. The combination claimed in claim 2, in which the guideway wall surfaces above and below the neck portions of the links are formed of an anti-friction bearing material. 7

4. The combination claimed in claim 3, in which the anti-friction bearing material is a plastic laminated substance with a woven asbestos base.

5. A device of the class described, comprising: upper and lower elongated vertically spaced laterally adjustable guides of shallow plate formation having adjacent vertically spaced guide faces thereon, a pin chain comprising a plurality of pivotally interlinked pin-mounting elements of shallow plate formation mounted to slide between said adjacent guide faces, guide-supporting means for said guides comprising a plurality of supporting members by which said guides are carried, said supporting members extending transversely of said guides and being longitudinally spaced therealong immediately above the upper and below the lower guides to define transversely extending spaces between adjacent ones of said supporting members, and a plurality of vertically spaced transversely extending nozzles disposed immediately above and below said guides with their orifices disposed at levels close to each other and to the levels of said adjacent guide faces, said nozzles being positioned in alignment with said transversely extending spaces, whereby said nozzles may be positioned with their orifices in close proximity to the path of travel of said pin-mounting elements without 1nterfering with said lateral adjustment of said guides.

6. A device according to claim 5 in which said guides comprise longitudinally extending portions directed toward each other to provide lateral guide faces thereon and wherein each of said pin-mounting elements comprises a thin flat plate portion extending between said adjacent guide faces, an enlarged portion of greater thickness than said plate portion in sliding engagement with said lateral guide faces, and a pin-mounting portion extending laterally beyond said guides.

7. A device according to claim 5 in which said guides are formed at least in part of anti-friction material, said adjacent guide faces being arranged on said anti-friction material.

8. A device of the class described, comprising: elongated guide means on which fabric selvedge-engaging means can travel, a series of transversely extending members supporting said guide means in position, successive members being arranged to leave spaces between the same, nozzles for directing a gaseous drying medium into the space in proximity to said selvedge-engaging means through the spaces between said members, the part of said nozzles nearest the selvedge-engaging means being disposed nearer to said selvedge-engaging means than the parts of said members remote from said selvedgeengaging means thereby allowing the nozzle orifices to extend into said spaces and to be disposed very close to the path of travel of said selvedge-engaging means, whereby transverse displacement of said guide means relative to said nozzles may be efiected without interference with said nozzles.

9. A device of the class described, comprising: an elongated guide unit for selvedge-engaging elements, a plurality of nozzles for directing a gaseous drying medium into proximity to said elements, and a plurality of transversely extending supporting members secured to said .unit both above and below the same for supporting said unit in element receiving position, said supporting members being spaced apart longitudinally of said unit by distances determined by the width of said nozzles in said longitudinal direction and to define transversely extending spaces between adjacent ones of said supporting members into which spaces said nozzles extend, said nozzles being fixedly positioned with respect to said device and said unit being laterally displaceable with respect thereto without interference with said nozzles.

10. A device of the class described, comprising: a plurality of thin flat generally horizontal mounting elements each comprising web holding means adapted for engagement with the edge of a web of material to be treated, a laterally extending portion by which said web holding means are carried, and a vertically extending pivot member disposed near one end thereof; a plurality of pairs of thin fiat horizontal linking elements, each pair of linking elements being secured by fastening means to upper and lower sides of one of said mounting elements at a portion thereof spaced from said pivot member, each of said pairs of linking elements comprising portions which extend beyond said mounting element and which have vertically aligned apertures formed therein which receive and pivotally engage the pivot member of an adjacent pin-mounting element to form a chain; upper and lower elongated horizontally extending vertically spaced rail members between which a series of pairs of said linking elements of said chain are longitudinally slidably received, upper and lower elongated parallel vertically spaced guide strips formed of anti-friction material carried by adjacent portions of said rail members, a series of said laterally extending portions of said chain extending longitudinally slidably between said strips with said linking elements on one side of said strips and said web holding means on the other side thereof, and a plurality of vertically spaced rigid supporting members extending transversely of said rail members and longitudinally spaced therealong, said supporting members being secured to said rail members immediately above the upper rail member and immediately below the lower rail member for positively mounting said rail members and said guide strips in said vertically spaced relationships, said pivot members and said linking element fastening means being vertically confined between the planes of the outer horizontal surfaces of each pair of linking elements to provide a minimum vertical spacing between said rail members.

11, A device according to claim 10, further comprising a series of nozzles extending transversely of said rail members and in alignment with the longitudinally disposed spaces between said supporting members for directing a gaseous drying medium through the: spaces between said supporting members and into close proximity to said web.

12. A device according to claim 10, wherein said web holding means holds the planes of said web at a level vertically displaced from the plane of said laterally extending portion of the mounting element by which it is carried and in which said laterally extending portion comprises an oifset jog intermediate said guide strips and said web holding means for centralizing the plane of said web vertically intermediate said linking members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 23,384 Dungler July 3, 1951 499,839 Kinyon June 20, 1893 1,198,377 Allsop Sept. 12, 1916 2,002,096 McCann May 21, 1935 2,574,083 Andrews Nov. 6, 1951 2,591,621 Shegda Apr. 1, 1952 

